'The King and I' still rules at the Opera House

Thursday

Apr 6, 2017 at 7:00 PM

By R. Scott Reedy, Daily News Correspondent

“One day I wish to build a fence around Siam. Next day, maybe let the rest of the world in.”

That statement – made by King Mongkut of Siam – may sound like some of the political posturing coming out of Washington, D.C., these days, but it’s actually a line of dialogue from the classic musical “The King and I,” written more than 65 years ago by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist and book writer Oscar Hammerstein II.

“I think the King is very relevant today, especially in the current political world we’re living in,” said actor and singer Jose Llana, who plays the role in the Bartlett Sher-directed national tour of the Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers and Hammersein’s “The King and I” that opens in Boston on April 11, by telephone last week from Philadelphia.

“He was a young ruler trying to protect his country from hostile invasion when he expressed that sentiment,” explains Llana, who played the part during two engagements in the 2015 revival, which won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. “Two years ago on Broadway, the King’s line about the fence got no reaction. Now in every city I have to gauge the reaction. In Seattle and Cleveland, there was instant laughter, while Los Angeles audiences just seemed indifferent.”

That one line in the script may have been met with indifference, but just the opposite has long been true for the show which boasts a score that includes “I Whistle a Happy Tune,” “Getting to Know You,” “We Kiss in a Shadow,” “Hello, Young Lovers,” and “Shall We Dance?” After an out-of-town tryout at Boston’s Shubert Theatre, “The King and I” premiered on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on March 29, 1951. Winning the Tony Award for best musical and running for nearly three years, it spawned a 1956 feature film, four Broadway revivals and multiple road companies.

An adaptation of the 1944 Margaret Landon novel of the same name, and set in Bangkok, Siam (now known as Thailand), in the 1860s, the musical is the story of the unorthodox relationship between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher. Wishing to move his country forward in imperialistic times, the King brings the widowed governess to Siam to educate his many wives and children.

“The King’s relationship with Anna shows him the outside world through a foreigner’s eyes. There is tension between them at first, then a bridge for both of them to empathy,” says Llana, a Filipino-American who was born in Manila and brought up in Springfield, Virginia, a suburb of Washington.

Originated by Gertrude Lawrence, the role of the strong-minded Anna – Laura Michelle Kelly on the current tour – has also been played on Broadway by Constance Towers, Patricia Morison, Mary Beth Peil, Donna Murphy, Faith Prince, and Kelli O’Hara, among others, and in the 1956 film adaptation by Deborah Kerr.

“Rodgers and Hammerstein were always very progressive. They are, after all, the team that wrote ‘You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught,’ which explains that racism is something that happens after you’re born, for ‘South Pacific’ in 1949. They also created willful female characters like Anna.”

And when they cast Yul Brynner to play their King, Rodgers and Hammerstein gave the Russian-born actor the role of his life. Brynner won the 1952 Tony Award for best featured actor in a musical and the 1956 Academy Award for best actor for the film version. He headlined two Broadway revivals of “The King and I,” and even starred in a short-lived 1972 CBS-TV non-musical sitcom called “Anna and the King.” By the time of his death in 1985, Brynner had done the musical 4,625 times on stage.

It was not until the 1996 revival, when Lou Diamond Phillips was cast in the part, that an actor other than Brynner opened a production as the King on Broadway.

“My first King was Lou Diamond Phillips,” remembers Llana, who was a 19-year-old college student when he made his Broadway debut in that production, which won the 1996 Tony for best musical revival, playing Lun Tha, the Burmese scholar in love with one of the King’s youngest wives, Tuptim. “Lou was the kindest, most fatherly/older-brotherly kind of colleague I’ve ever had. He was very important to that company and I learned a great deal from him.”

Llana, who makes his home in New York with fiancé Erik Rose, now imbues his own portrayal of the King with qualities he saw in Phillips.

“The King had been a monk for 10 years and he was an important leader for his country, so I approach him from an intellectual perspective and with tremendous respect. To come back to this show, which launched my professional career, has been profound. It’s very exciting to be able to bring this revival around the country. The story is so relevant today and the music, of course, is just glorious.

“I learned from Lou that it is important to build a sense of family in the company. That’s been easy, too, because there is instant camaraderie when you work with other Asian actors. It doesn’t matter whether we’re Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Thai, or something else, there’s always a similarity to our foundations and upbringings,” says Llana, whose sister, Patricia Llana, and brother-in-law, Adrian LeBuffe, live in Winchester with their children Veronica, 7, and 4-year-old Max.

Remembering his own time as Lun Tha, Llana – who originated the role of Chip Tolentino in the 2005 off-Broadway and Broadway productions of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” – has developed a bond with the young actor currently playing that part.

“Kavin Panmeechao, who is actually Thai, and I have become very close. Kavin is a stellar singer and actor, so he doesn’t need my advice. I do, however, tell him, ‘One day you are going to play the King.’”

And if that happens, it won’t necessarily put Llana out of work.

“I always joke that I’m going to play Lady Thiang (the King’s chief wife) next,” says Llana with a laugh.